Comments on: Writing When You Have No Motivation

By: Deborah

Deborah — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:27:12 +0000

Most of the time, I have something to show for my time spent at the computer. There have been many days, however, where the only thing I can produce is daydreams. I give myself three to four hours to write something, if nothing comes, I’ll either grab my pad of paper or go do something around the house.

By: Lee Pletzers

Lee Pletzers — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:26:37 +0000

I just keep at it, knowing that I can fix it in the edit.
People say take a break, go for a walk or something, but not me, I just keep hitting the keys. Often, the flow will start by itself if I’m at it long enough.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:51:42 +0000

Sometimes, I decide to read the stuff I’ve written. More often than not, this leads to heavy revision.

By: Melly

Melly — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:36:29 +0000

That’s a toughy.
I guess I resort to different things depending on my mood. Anything from doing revisions to writing forcefully (usually crap that leads to something).

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:05:28 +0000

Chris: I started one writing journal and a dream journal, but I haven’t written anything in them for years. Perhaps I should go dig them up.

Karen: Thanks for your support. I’m having a better day today, coldwise.

Liz: I started blogging for the same reason. There’s something about that calendar that makes me want to fill it. Blogs are also a great way to hone your writing skills and meet other writers.

Lee: I’ve given myself many a peptalk over the years. Most of the time it works.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, everyone. I forgot to mention that music sometimes helps jog me out of a block.

By: Lee Carlon

Lee Carlon — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:27:40 +0000

I usually tell myself to write the next line of whatever I’m working on, and that usually leads to more.

By: ME Strauss

ME Strauss — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:13:29 +0000

Hi Deborah,
I started blogging so that I would have something that would be a tangible reason for be to keep to the writer’s discipline of writing everyday. For some reason, I don’t find it as easy to do or as much fun if I’m not tied to some sort of deadline. Maybe it’s too many years in publishing and I’m too much related to Pavlov’s dogs.

In any case, whenever I don’t feel like writing I too pick up a pencil. I also pick up a pencil whenever I have to wait for my computer to do something like defrag, or scan for viruses, or all of those other sit around tasks.

I also do what Chris does–look through my journal–and look through other books I know talk to me. Sometimes I pull up a really gorgeous photo and just stare at it until my mind lets go of things and I get out of the way of my subconscious.

By: Karen Lee Field

Karen Lee Field — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:51:07 +0000

Today I returned to work after two days of sick with the flu. I had to push myself to the limit, and as a result I feel exhausted. I don’t feel like writing now and won’t push myself any more today.

Sometimes, it’s better to let the body rest, Deborah. So don’t feel bad about your lack of enthusiasm.

By: Chris Howard

Chris Howard — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 03:47:07 +0000

That’s when I flip through my journal. I go back and read bits of character description, interesting words I’ve jotted down, pieces of dreams that I scrawled in the middle of the night–and have trouble reading six months later. I write down everything, weird combinations of words. If I go back far enough, I can’t remember why or when I wrote most of it, but when I need some inspiration, the journal helps.